The non-aqueous titrimetric assay of selected antibiotics using tetra-N-butylammonium hydroxide as titrant.

This study was carried out to develop a potentiometric titration method in non-aqueous media for the determination of some commonly used antibiotics. For this purpose, five antibiotics, namely ampicillin, amoxycillin trihydrate, rifampin, netilmicin sulphate and ciproflaxacin hydrochloride, were potentiometrically titrated using pyridine as solvent and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide as titrant, at 25 degrees C and under a nitrogen atmosphere. The method was found to be highly accurate and precise having a relative standard deviation of less than 1.0%. Also it was shown that the method could be successfully applied to assay of commercial pharmaceuticals containing the above-mentioned antibiotics. The results of recovery studies for standard additions in pharmaceutical preparations were satisfactory. The proposed method is simple, rapid and sufficiently precise for quality control purposes.